Yellow Severe Weather Warnings Issued for England and Wales

YELLOW SEVERE weather warnings for wind and rain have been issued by the Met Office for Thursday across much of England and Wales.

The warning highlights the potential for disruption to travel, coastal impacts, and localised flooding in some areas, with winds speeds reaching up to 65mph.

Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Dan Harris, said: “Low pressure moving across the south of the UK on Thursday will bring both a spell of heavy rain and areas of strong winds.”

“The rain is expected to arrive from the southwest during Wednesday evening, before spreading northeast to many parts of England and Wales during Thursday, leading to difficult driving conditions and the risk of flooding in a few places. At the same time, winds are expected to pick up along south coastal areas in particular.

“However, it is not until Thursday morning that significantly strong northwesterly winds will first begin to affect parts of the west with gusts of 45 to 55 mph, locally 65mph around coasts expected. A little later, northerly winds are expected to develop more widely across eastern areas, most likely of similar strength, but there is a small chance of gusts in excess of 70mph should the low pressure system end up being at the stronger end of expectations.”

Keep track of current weather warnings on the Met Office’s weather warning page here.

Working in Extreme Weather

Following the yellow weather warning, Roofing Today has provided the following top tips for roofers working in extreme weather.

Wind can make rooftops more dangerous. For those dealing with large boards or sheets, such as many flat roofing products, extra care should be taken.

Wind speeds above 23mph or gusts of up to 35mph, are enough to prevent the safe handling of slates, tiles, battens and felts on roofs, with the equivalent for rolls of felt being about 17mph, gusting to 26mph or over.

You can use a handheld anemometer to check wind speeds at rooftop height.

Although it might look safe from the ground, roof work should not be carried out during periods of snow or ice. Even if the mercury does rise above freezing or the sun does come out, there could be patches of snow, ice or frost that have not thawed and remain slippy and dangerous.

Employers should also be carrying out risk assessments on site daily, paying attention to safe access and walkways, areas with roof coverings already laid and scaffolding boards and storage areas at height. Local site conditions can differ from those on the weather forecast.

For general guidance on safely performing roof work read HSE advice here.

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